Discover Your Body HD App Review
App Name: Discover Your Body HD
Overall Rating: 5/5
Mom’s Rating: 4/5
Kids’ Rating: 5/5
Recommended Grades/Ages: Grades 1-6
Skills Developed: Human Anatomy, Body Systems
Available On/Price: iPad – $2.99
Reviewed on: iPad
App Description:
Discover Your Body HD provides three ways for children to explore the human body in a self-directed way. Children can choose from a boy or girl character to explore before choosing one of three main activities. The characters wear underwear throughout the app (bottoms for the boy – training bra style top and bottoms for the girl).
Explore the Body lets your child freely tap to uncover the names of body parts on varying levels. The body is displayed in the middle of the screen, and systems can be switched between from the thumbnails on the left. Text and details are displayed to the right. Touching the big blue button in the upper right-hand corner reveals the touch-spots that children can interact with to find more details. Entertaining sound effects play when the spots are touched, and the name of the highlighted item can be heard by touching the speaking head. Many body parts include detailed text that can be heard by tapping the speaking head button to hear it read aloud. Tapping the magnifying glass icon if it is present can reveal further information.
The main body systems that can be explored are the top level (common body part names – the hand, the foot etc.), the skeleton, the muscles, the heart/circulatory system, parts of the blood, the pulmonary system (lungs), the urinary system (kidneys etc.), the gastrointestinal system (stomach liver etc.), the brain and nervous system, and the senses. Magnifying glass detailed information is available on: the brain, the heart, the lungs, the eye, the ear, and the hand and provides a good amount of additional information – particularly the heart which is broken up into chambers.
After exploring the body, children can Assemble the Body by completing timed tap and drag puzzles that fill in either basic body parts, organs, or parts of the skeleton (your child can choose any of the three to complete).
Color the Body is another puzzle-type timed activity that asks your child to tap on either parts of the skeleton, or muscles that the app names. As the correct body part is tapped its illustration appears on the blank outline ‘coloring in’ the body as the game progresses.
Parents may wish to note that the reproductive system isn’t covered in this app.
Other Notes: This app does not include in-app purchases or advertising. It does include social media integration and external links on the info screen that prompt users to confirm before leaving the app.
What We Liked:
My children appreciated that the app included two genders, while the reproductive system isn’t covered; it’s nice for children to be able to explore and build bodies of both genders. I really like the breadth and depth of information that the app covers for this age group – particularly the detailed information on the heart, lungs etc. The fact that the app contains narration (in most cases) also helps make this information more accessible for younger children who aren’t yet confident readers.
My oldest daughter loves the detailed illustration of the different parts of the blood – along with the funny sound effects the characters make (white blood cells sound like martial artists!) My younger children enjoy working on the anatomy puzzle activities, they call them ‘games’ and have lots of fun completing the bodies. The colorful, cartoon-like design makes for a fun, playful feeling throughout the app for young children.
What We Didn’t Like:
Some of the body parts are called by their common names, while others (the majority) are called by their more precise scientific names. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason – triceps are triceps, but the quadriceps are simply thigh muscles. Likewise, the tibia are precisely named by the scapula are just shoulder blades. I can understand generalization in the case of complex arrangements of bones (like the skull) particularly at this level but I’d prefer the app to pick a naming system and stick to it for simpler body parts.
The touchspots display option isn’t available in the detailed info boxes, and some of the detailed info doesn’t narrate in those boxes either.
Overall:
Discover Your Body HD is a surprisingly in-depth human anatomy app for young children. Not only are major overall body parts and systems covered, but the app also ‘drills down’ and provides more detail on the most vital parts of the body. The high quality narration included also makes the app accessible by early/non-readers, and the activity game puzzles help children remember the locations of various organs, bones, and body parts.
Buy this iPad app now for $2.99!
Have you downloaded this app? Let us know what you and your children thought – leave a comment!
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About Me
For homeschoolers, by a homeschooler. I'm Jennifer Bogart, a homeschooling mom of four, 8 months - 8 years. I'm an app-loving, aspiring geek dedicated to helping you hunt down the best homeschooling apps for your children. There are a lot of apps out there, let me help you narrow them down. 
